Dr. Mark Wygoda Son of Holocaust Survivor to speak at The LCLT

The Lake Charles Little Theatre announces a special talk by Dr. Mark Wygoda, son of a holocaust survivor and international war hero, immediately following its 2:00pm, Sunday November 13 matinee performance of The Diary of Anne Frank.

THE LAKE CHARLES LITTLE THEATRE, now in its 85th season at The New Stable Playhouse, 813 Enterprise Blvd., is proud to announce a talk by Dr. Mark Wygoda, son of a Holocaust survivor and war hero. The talk immediately follows the 2:00pm Sunday, November 13, 2011 matinee performance of The Diary of Anna Frank by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett, directed by Joann Rigney.

Dr. Wygoda, Zoology professor and head of the Department of Biology & Health Sciences at McNeese State University, edited the posthumous memoir of his father, Hermann Wygoda, under the title, In the Shadow of the Swastika (Univ. of Illinois Press).  On November 13th he will share his father’s wartime experiences -- with photographs and documents.  A German-born Polish Jew, the late Mr. Wygoda was first a smuggler in the notorious Warsaw ghetto, then a trusted Berlin courier and finally commander of a 2,500-member partisan assault brigade on the Italian front.  Known to his troops as “Comandante Enrico”, he planned and led attacks, negotiated prisoner exchanges with the enemy and helped liberate the City of Savona.  Three nations later honored Mr. Wygoda for his heroic work with the Italian resistance.   Mr. Wygoda’s memoir In the Shadow of the Swastika will be available for purchase at the talk.

 The play, The Diary of Anne Frank, adapted from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, edited by Otto Frank, spans two years in war-torn Amsterdam when the Franks, a Jewish couple, and their two daughters hid with four other fugitives in a warehouse attic in an attempt to escape discovery by German occupying forces.  In a diary the young teen Anne Frank recorded her account of the trials and tribulations of those around her as they tried to live a normal life in cramped accommodations, whilst under the constant threat of discovery by the Gestapo.  This award-winning play has received the 1956 Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award, and the Critics Circle Award. 

Cast members for this production include: Allison Gabbert, Greg Stratton, Jo Ann Hanks, Alexandra Lee, Scott Lewis, Michelle Doucet, Jordan Thibodeaux, Amber Breaux, Carl Bergeron and Frank Cooper.   Assistant Director is Amy Sweat.

Show dates and times are:  Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-12 and Nov. 18-19 at 7:30pm, and Sunday matinees, Nov. 13 and Nov. 20 at 2:00pm.  Final performance is November 20.